IWSG is brought to us by our local blogging friend Alex. Its a month meme that brings us insecure folks together and gives us a chance to let our freak flags fly and air out the smells of insecurity.

My insecurity I want to talk about this month is...

Are we friends?

That is the question I’m asking you. (The only blogger I don't worry about isJackie. She's a part of both worlds!)

I follow tons of blogs I read weekly and maybe half of those I read daily. And a few dozen, I mention daily and a couple dozen I call friends.

Let’s see if I can explain this as fluently as possible… I try not to throw the term “friends” around lightly in my everyday life (I have my reasons)but in the blogging world it seems kind of “weird” to use the term friends to those who do not blog. Just like talking to non-writers about writing.

But I DO consider you friends. There I said.

And those outside of the blogging biosphere think I’m crazy calling for you friends. “Oh, you mean your virtual blogging folks?” *pursed face*

See, to them, you guys are SIMS characters or something similar. Like, I turn my computer on, play with you, turn my computer off, and it ends there. But it doesn’t. I take what I’ve read and think about it/you throughout my day(s).

In a convo about movies I say, “My friend Suzi saw that! She said it was really good!”

When talking about Juicing with a couple I know. They said they threw away their left over pulp. I shared with them what they could do with it from Mark's and Jackie's posts. “Oh my friend has this great page for this type of stuff!”

I will share a funny post fromMina or a funny convo from Facebook we had.

“Oh my gosh! My friendJaybird posted the funniest thing about being at the store and…”

“Sheena-kay likes skirts over… and she lives in Jamaica so she knows all about hot weather and clothes, I'm sure.”

“Laura is so lucky, she is going on holiday to Spain and…” (My mistake was using the word holiday. I used it cause that's the word Laura used. Here we say vacation. But where I work, I'm used to talking to our sister-company in Ireland and they say holiday all the time. So for me it's not a big deal.)

“Morgan totally agrees and anyone who calls me cool knows…” (I've only used this line once and it was to win my arguement against the Hubby.)

I can’t help it, you guys just come up in my conversations. You are more a part of my everyday life then most of the people I hang out with. I “see” you more – almost every day.But most conversations tend to lead to:"Her/his name is Jaybird/Bushman?" *sigh*"How do you know someone in Jamaica/Egypt/Germany/England/Hawaii/Australia?" *sigh*"You know someone married to a Gold Medalist?!" *sigh*"Wow, so you know someone who has a book out there?" *sigh*And my answer usually begins, "Well technically I don't KNOW them, know them..." My point here is, they missed the info I was giving them and concentrated on the silly stuff.And I know even more about you than I do people I work with or hang out with. Not necessarily linked to the people above…

I know that someone’s son shares his name with a president.

Someone’s son is on a trip in another country.

Another has three daughters all starting with F’s and wants a pant-less summer.

Another has 4 “ankle biters”.

Some don’t want kids. Some do but it hasn’t happened yet. Some can’t.

He has two dogs, chickens, a duck, and endless amount of yard work but also works 10hr days.

She lives in Germany but would love to move back to the states and start a ranch!

He takes care of his loving wife and still has enough time for his blogging community and his wife loves to help him.

Even dragon’s, who are tough as nails, get sick and need a community to lean on.

The list can go on and on.

So my question is: Are we friends? Should I be insecure about calling you friends like I’m insecure about my writing? Or should I just ignore my “non-virtual”friends and family critics and continue calling you my friends?

So what I'm really asking is, do I need a life; cause I really feel like I have one. I just like to talk about you.

I think that's sweet, actually. I always talk about my online friends. I try not to use the term lightly because since they're online, they can disappear at random, but the ones that stick know I love them!

Friends, like so many words, has multiple meanings, so yes, I guess on some level all bloggers are friends with at least a few other bloggers. Post hoc hasty generalization, I know, but it is a virtual reality after all.

This is a great post, and I can understand it completely. People look at me funny too when I refer to my blogging buddies as friends. I think it's okay to call us friends though. Others may not understand why you do it, but those of us who blog do. I get a lot of support through blogging, and that means something to me.

There was a time when knowing people online was strange. Mostly because it was new. It wasn't main-stream. It was foreign to how people viewed social interaction. But now? I think contact via online (Facebook, Email, Blogs, Online gaming) is so current that anyone who would suggest negativity towards being a part of an online community is actually the stand-out. If someone makes an impact on your life and is important to you. How are they NOT a friend? A great post, and well written. Indeed, a fine resurrection offering. Cheers

This was such an endearing post:) I consider all my online writerly peeps, friends. They're a helluva lot more witty/ funny/ interesting/ supportive than most of the people breathing the same air as moi.